Server killed in Plaza fire recalled for her empathy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A server killed in a Kansas City restaurant explosion was remembered Monday for her empathy and warmth.

The Kansas City Star reported that about 200 people attended a memorial service at Community Christian Church for Megan Cramer. She was 46 when she was killed in a Feb. 19 explosion and fire that destroyed JJ’s restaurant near the upscale Country Club Plaza shopping and entertainment district. Fifteen others were injured.

A Missouri Gas Energy official has said that Olathe, Kan.-based Heartland Midwest reported hitting a natural gas line with an underground borer before the blast. The exact cause remains under investigation.

When Cramer was a law student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, she helped capital punishment defense lawyer Sean O’Brien work with men condemned to die at the Potosi Correctional Center. He recalled that she could make a condemned man smile or burst out laughing.